Salsa Suite

Salsa Suite by Gail M. Murray, circa 2006.
Member of the Toronto Poetry Club.

It begins
slowly, easily
as friendship.

They meet in salsa class
over hardwood floors, beads of sweat
and sensuous latin music.

The students dance in a circular rotation.
“Switch partners” the dance instructor calls.
He’s coming towards her
She looks forward to dancing with him.
He makes her laugh,
teases incessantly
witty repartee and latin rhythms.
She flushes, eyes averted.

Then one night after class
his impromptu invitation
“Would you like to go for coffee?”
to his place.
She trusts this one
his passion for photography and artistic city scapes
let her in a little.

Again, spur of the moment
a Lennon tribute night
bohemian poets and coffee house cappuccino
more stories, histories
conversation easy,
getting to know each other.

Then he tempts the traveler in her
“Will you go to Cuba with me, leave Boxing Day?”
That’s a week away
She doesn’t know him
He’s still a mystery, pieces she’s putting together
so they watch the DVD
of forbidden lovers who share dance and each other
Havana Nights she wants to live with him.

Still, no touching
that’s only safe on the dance floor

At salsa class it’s always there
the verbal banter, constant flirtation and comfort.

What is she to him?
seems more than friendship
not so easy now.

Phone calls from the road
from Edmonton and Vancouver
He travels with his work
tells he’s been jogging,
describes his business dinner.

Victoria Day weekend
his unexpected late night call
he’s en route from a family function at the Falls
good thing he owns a cell phone.

He arrives unshaven
toting vinegary wine
to catch up on her recent trip to Arizona
or flame surfacing desire?

He’s at ease in her recliner
massaging her taut shoulders
taking her to a different reality.
He plays with her long hair
such an erotic thing
a man’s hands stroking your hair.

Sliding into his arms, she curls up
‘His gentleness came down upon her’
Kisses, tender kisses
sweet surprise from a jock
who keeps a gym regimen
races dragon boats and kick boxes.

He transmits tenderness
“It’s you” he whispers
“You bring it out in a man”.
“Did you think we’d….?” she asks
“There’s always been something between us”.
They’re crossing bridges.

In summer sunlight , arm in arm
strolling cliffs along the lake
still easy.
Until he says “there’s good news and sad news”
“You’re moving” she senses it
all this work related travel
Two hours away
difficult, not impossible for a man in love
He’s fast tracking, climbing corporate ladders
Different dreams.

Why did he start crossing bridges?
‘Her blue eyes could melt his soul down to a place it longed to be.’
Dancers spin to a pumping meringue beat
“I thought I’d surprise you,” he says a little cocky
Since the move, she hadn’t expected to see him at salsa
“I can come for dinner next Friday, I’m in town.
Is that enough notice for you?”

Twilight approaches
her garden blooms soft rose hues
He’s only two hours late
driving across the city through rush hour
Is planning in his scope?
He’s missed business flights before.

Scents of vanilla and wild salmon mingle on the patio
It’s dark, chilly now
Time to venture indoors
Kissing, stroking, crossing further….
He’s behaving like a lover
He asks her to dance
Not latin music this time.

Slow, close, not like dance class
More Bridges of Madison County
Is he sensitive to her or does he know how to play her?

He’s good with romantic gestures
as he sweeps her into his arms
carries her upstairs
crossing the threshold.

This lover awakens with tender sensuality
at dawn they stir, his arms enfold

He plants a single kiss on her shoulder
They drift back to sleep
then he’s in her kitchen making breakfast.

It’s her turn to drive the distance to his salsa barbecue
“It’s so far” she sighs
Is this a message she’s trying to deny?
Tiki candles, latin music, dancing with the gang from salsa class
mastering new dance combinations
though she wants to dance with him, solo.

His new house has five bedrooms.
“Which bed has my name on it?” she asks coyly.
“Mine.”
“Where are you planning to sleep?” she blushes
“With you.”
“Not if the party goers drink too much and stay over” she says.
She has her reputation to think about.
She still attends dance class.

Candlelight, blue sheets
piped in music from his laptop
Poet meets techie.

He opens to her
thoughts, feelings
in this dawn pillow talk.
“Her blue eyes melted his soul down to the place
where it longed to be.”

Unapologetic Love

By Charles Moffat, Canadian Poet.

---

Love and affection

doesn't have to be erotic.

The joining of two minds

is much more romantic.

People who love only sex

are really just pathetic.

The virtue of karma in relationships

is such that it makes justice poetic.

Finding genuine love and kindness

makes two lovers positively magnetic.

Lust is the mere byproduct of affection,

but true love is both prophetic and unapologetic.

ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

Pleasure & Gentle Pain

By Charles Moffat, Canadian Poet.

I push you against the wall, ripping your shirt open
You push me back, your hands tugging at mine
Our kisses are fast, unrelenting and turn into bites

We hit the ground in a tumble of clothing
I struggle to get on top of you, to find my way inside you
I succeed, but you grab me and wrestle me to one side

I grab your breasts mercilessly, no time for caution
Everything we do is pleasurable, mixed with gentle pain
We thrash about like dueling animals, a melee of skin, nails and lips

Near the end our thrashing stops and we fall into a rhythm
But our grunts are no less animalistic
We sound like two savage beasts, panting from our exertions

At long last we collapse in defeat
Our bodies are mashed together, our muscles weak from fighting
At long last we are gentle and content, our kisses tender and loving

Eroticism in Song Lyrics

By poet Charles Moffat.

Song lyrics often employ double entendres like 'Let Your Love Come Over Me'. One of the best examples I've ever heard is the song Dirty World by the Traveling Wilburys (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty).

Dirty World

By the Traveling Wilburys

He love your sexy body, he loves your dirty mind
He loves when you hold him when you grab him from behind
Oh baby, you're such a pretty thing
I can't wait to introduce you to the other members of my gang

You don't need no wax job, you're smooth enough for me
If you need your oil changed I'll do it for you free
Oh baby, the pleasure would be all mine
If you let me drive your pickup truck and park it where the sun don't shine

Every time he touches you his hair stands up on end
His legs begin to quiver and his mind begins to bend
Oh baby, you're such a tasty treat
But I'm under doctors orders, Im afraid to over-eat

He love your sense of humor, your disposition too
There's absolutely nothing that he don't love about you
Oh baby, I'm on my hands and knees
Life would be so simple if I only had you to please

Oh baby, turn around and say goodbye
You go to the airport now and I'm going home to cry

(chorus)
He loves your...
Electric dumplings
Red bell peppers
Fuel injection
Service charge
Five-speed gearbox
Long endurance
Quest for junk food
Big refrigerator
Trembling wilbury
Marble earrings
Porky curtains
Power steering
Bottled water
Parts and services

(bridge)
Dirty world, a dirty world, it's a ...ing dirty world.

Eroticism in Fantasy

By fantasy author Charles Moffat.

When I say the word "fantasy" I don't mean daydreaming about hot sex in a Brazilian waterfalls... as nice as that sounds, what I actually am talking about is traditional "Sword and Sorcery" fantasy. ie. Conan the Barbarian by fantasy writer Robert E. Howard. (Or Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, although really, there isn't much eroticism to speak of in Harry Potter so it doesn't really prove my point.)

Basically fantasy, as it mostly marketed towards men in the same way vampire books are marketed towards women, often employs eroticism either in the cover art and/or the contents of the book.

Star Wars is an excellent example. (My apologies to anyone who thinks Star Wars is science fiction... there is no science in Star Wars. Its a fantasy. Force = Magic, Light Sabres = Magic Swords, etc. They never even bother to explain scientific concepts of how the Death Star actually works, hyperspace, etc.)

But back to my original point: Eroticism in Star Wars. Think scantily clad dancing aliens and Princess Leia in her slave costume.

To be fair there is also the kissing scene between Harry and Hermiome in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) which is carefully censored to make it erotic and yet not show any naughty bits.

So suffice to say fantasy writers (and fantasy movies) will frequently throw in something erotic to tantalize their audience. Some writers (ie. Stephen King, Guy Gavriel Kay, George R. R. Martin, etc) will even go into explicit detail and you might think you were reading something out of Penthouse Letters or some similar literary sex magazine.

I think however that adding such scenes to books really is more about the writer than the audience. The writer is living vicariously through their characters, imagining sexual fantasies that they desire to fulfill but knowing they never will.

ie. Robert E. Howard (the creator of Conan the Barbarian) is reputed to have had only girlfriend during his short career (he committed suicide in 1936 at the age of 30). The girl who was the object of his affections (Novalyne Price) didn't return his interest and broke up with him in 1934. One might argue that his lack of a serious love interest led to his depression and eventual suicide.

Howard's literary creations however, especially Conan, didn't just have women he had many women. But Conan only had one main love interest, a woman named "Belit", the heroine in the story "Queen of the Black Coast". In the story Howard even alludes to their relationship to having sadomasochistic undertones.

Unlike other Conan stories however where Conan essentially walks off into the sunset with the rescued damsel by his side instead Belit dies at the end of the story. Given a viking funeral no less.

It is interesting therefore to note that Howard wrote and published "Queen of the Black Coast" in 1934, shortly after being dumped by Novalyne Price. He also wrote the book "Almuric" shortly after in which he makes some interest comments about suicide (the book was later published posthumously in 1939).

But I digress!

Robert E. Howard, more so than other writers of his era, was deeply sexually repressed and was expressing himself via eroticism in his writing to make up for his lack of emotional connection to a woman in real life. His mother's coma in 1936 and the announcement that she would never awaken was the final nail in the coffin. He went out to his car and shot himself with a .380 Colt Automatic. He died 8 hours later, never regaining consciousness.

Speaking for myself I believe in a much more happy-go-lucky lifestyle. I firmly believe a person can always just start over anew. (Songs like "Eye of the Tiger" help for those who lack motivation.)

When I was living and working overseas I was missing my girlfriend back in Canada and wrote a series of short stories about an interracial relationship between a barbarian human named Brutus and an elf female named Avianna. Its true I was lonely and missing her, and thus expressed my loneliness through the stories which I emailed to my then girlfriend. But at least I never gave up hope for finding true love.

Years later the Brutus & Avianna stories are now available as an eBook on Lulu.com.

Some people might say sex and violence go well together. They're exciting. But I disagree. Violence only seems to work in fantasy pulp fiction when the hero saves the damsel and they live happily ever after. Morbid endings, however more realistic, are downers. (My apologies for the morbidness of this post!!!)

I firmly believe that love, sex and by extension eroticism are all reasons to live. Heroes in fantasy stories don't fight for gold or meaningless things. They fight for love, freedom, justice and ideals.

Take Don Juan as an example. He seduces women (usually virgins) and then fights their bigoted husbands / overprotective fathers. There are many variations on the Don Juan myth, but my personal favourite is the film version "Don Juan Demarco"... a modern fantasy with swordfighting and a happy ending.

The Sensual Eroticism of the Song of Solomon

By Charles Moffat - May 2011.

If you've ever read "The Song of Solomon" you might have asked 'What is this type of writing doing in the Bible?' Most people would not expect to find such explicit, yet highly poetic, descriptions of a sexuality and lovemaking in the Holy Bible.



Depending on whom you talk to "The Song of Solomon" is literary smut but it is also one of the greatest examples of historical erotica. As a book in the Bible it celebrates sexuality as the most beautiful act a husband and wife can do together, a celebration of "God's Creation". In that line of thinking, eroticism itself (if done with poetic finesse and imagination) can be seen as a celebration of "God's Creation".

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine" says the female poet. Later she says "bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts."

If you read between the lines of The Song of Solomon you will notice that in Chapters 2 to 3, oral sex appears to be described: "the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."

The male poet, Solomon, says, "Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.... Thou has ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou has ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.... Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue."

Solomon describes his beloved as "a garden", presumably a reference to her bushy pubic hair and her fruit-like breasts.

His female lover writes "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat its pleasant fruits."

Its pretty obvious then they're meant to enjoy oral sex.

These poetic and metaphorical descriptions of intimacy lead us back to the question as to why this type of writing is in the Bible? The answer is because mankind is supposed to be "fruitful and multiply", because marriage isn't just a symbol before 'God', because marriage is also a sanctuary for lovemaking, and this lovemaking is both a celebration of the human body, and an act for creating children.

It is presumable that 'God' would wish children to be born from lovemaking, and not from rape or rampant fornication.

At the time the Holy Bible was put together it was previously just a collection of stories. Evidently the people deciding which chapters should go in it had a lengthy discussion about how prudish a book they were making. They wanted to off-set some of the more anti-sex ideas in the book with a chapter that celebrated sex. This was a conscious decision to endorse lovemaking and eroticism.

It also says something about the nature of sex of lovemaking. The moment of ecstasy is a moment wherein the whole body, the whole mind, is caught in rapture. It is perhaps no surprise therefore that many people in the moment of orgasm cry out "OH GOD!"

We should note that at the time the Song of Solomon they lived in a fairly liberal culture where both common peasants and the wealthy ran amok having sex with one another. True, they knew the dangers of sexuality, like pregnancy and the STDs of the time, but it was not a 'wholly anti-sexual culture'. Rather it was surprisingly knowledgeable about what causes babies to be born and had learned methods of effective contraception (likely finishing with oral sex or pulling out at the opportune moment).

At such a time we know that prostitution was a constant and that it was also vitally important that sexually transmitted diseases be kept to a minimum which may explain the many warnings in Proverbs and other Biblical passages against fornicating with "the strange woman" and "the harlot".



But while fornication was frowned upon, lovemaking within the sanctity of marriage was actually encouraged because it increases the chances of faithfulness and reduces adultery (which leads to other problems).

Eroticism therefore was not feared by ancient cultures but celebrated for increasing fertility and faithfulness between lovers. The Song of Solomon however is not about fertility of faithfulness however. It is a celebration of lovemaking's ability to give pleasure and to enrich the lives of those we love. It was created by and for people who savored the pleasures of the flesh and was meant to be enjoyed within marriage.

The Song of Solomon can also be appreciated as a larger metaphor. Some people see it as symbolizing the relationship of God to Israel, of Jesus Christ to the Christian Church, etc.

In the end The Song of Solomon is enduring testimony to the pleasures of lovemaking. While it is said that poets make good lovers, we can only assume Solomon was a great one.

(This essay is from the website The Song of Solomon and is courtesy of The Religion eZine, an online magazine which discusses religion, philosophy, atheism and mythology.)

Radiating heaven
his nakedness,  moonbathing
on a dishevelled bed

©2011 Beatrice van de Vis